Last updated: Friday 22 May 2020  

Emergency egg box call-out! Fabienne from Galileo Farm has run out of egg boxes (and so have her suppliers). Please bring your own boxes (and any spares you have) to the market. Thanks.

As long as the farmers keep on farming (and delivering), we'll carry on getting your veg to you.   

Please bear with us: Please be patient if we do not answer your calls or emails immediately – we are also juggling home working, staff absences and many new operational challenges. 

 

Click these links to go to specific updates:

Latest veg scheme Collection Point updates. Please check before setting out to collect your bags.

Latest farmers' market updates. Which stalls to expect this Saturday, online orders and pre-orders and how to keep safe when shopping.

Volunteering at our growing sites

Operational changes we're making to keep you safe.

 

 

Farmers' market

UPDATE: 22 May. The market will be open this Saturday 23 May, 10am till 2.30pm.

Please bring your own egg boxes to refill, plus any others you can spare for Fabienne at Galileo.

Please respect the 2 metre distancing rules both outside and inside the market. Queues tend to be shorter after 12 noon, so consider coming later. Shop as quickly as possible, don't bring children unless absolutely necessary and leave bicycles outside the market. Please leave the market before eating takeaway food.

If you'd like to receive weekly email updates about the farmers' market and other GC activities, please use the Subscribe to our mailing list box at the bottom of this page.

Provisional stall list for Saturday 16 May: 

• Veg: Ripple Farm Organics, Wild Country Organics, Brockmans, the Mushroom Table
• Bread: Astons Bakehouse
• Meat & fish: Galileo Farm*, Yorwarth's Fresh Fish (weather permitting)
• Dairy: Bath Soft Cheese, Hook & Son - try their new raw organic yoghurt
• Prepared foods/products: Niko B Chocolates; Global Fusion - cakes, fritters; Hatice - fresh-cooked Turkish gözleme, dolma and more; local honey from Becontree Bees in Barking

* Galileo Organic Farm is happy to accept email orders until 12 noon each Wednesday. Orders should be collected from the market between 12 noon and 2.30pm on Saturday to avoid the early rush. To collect, you need to join the queue. 

PaMa and Hempen will not be able to attend the farmers' market for the next few weeks, but you can order from them online through these links: PaMa online shop and Hempen online shop. Use the code 10LMAR at checkout for a discount on Hempen products (valid till 1 June 2020).

 

Collection point information

Can't collect your bag? If you have to stay home, you're welcome to send a friend, neighbour or family member to collect your bag for you. Just make sure they have the collection instructions and padlock codes they need. Or join your local WhatsApp buddy group and ask a fellow veg scheme member to collect your bags for you. Each collection point has its own group. The links to join are in an email we sent on 7 April, or email us and we'll send them again.

Can't find your bag? Our orders have gone up, so the delivery team are putting some bags in different places to fit them all in. Please look for new signage and check other shelves or cupboards.

Want to book holiday? Please try to do this by 5pm on Wednesday, the week before. Our suppliers have brought forward their ordering deadlines, so we are doing the same. 

Please don't arrive early to pick up your veg bag. it will not be ready and you will be putting our staff and yourselves at risk.

If you are a member of the veg scheme and need to contact us, please email us. We'll get back to you as soon as we can, but please bear in mind that we're receiving a high number of queries. 

 

Castle Climbing Centre
Green Lanes, N4 2HA  

Collection times:  Thursday 3pm - 5.30pm, Friday 9.30am - 5.30pm. Sorry we can't offer Saturday collection at the moment.

UPDATE 21 April:  Don't prop the doors open when you collect. We understand that people want to keep touch to a minimum, but the Castle (and your veg bags!) need to be kept safe. The Castle team are doing us a huge favour keeping the collection point open just for us, when the climbing centre is closed. We don't want to lose their trust. Please respect the space, keep fire exits clear and remember to close the doors and gate when you leave, then wash your hands when you get home. 

Please note: don’t be misled by the padlock to the right of the GC door, which gives access to a private Castle workspace. You can still open the left-hand door to access our cupboard using the keypad as usual.

Please help us all keep safe by keeping a 2 metre distance from other people. If someone is already collecting when you arrive, please wait outside and give them space.

 

Core Clapton - Closed

UPDATE 29 April: Core is closed this week. Please collect from The Old Fire Station, 61 Leswin Road, N16 7NX. Collection times: Wednesdays 3.30pm-9pm (staffed 3.30pm-7.30pm), Thursdays 8am-9pm, Fridays 8am-5pm. See text for collection instructions.

Please help us all keep safe by maintaining clean hands, and keeping a 2 metre distance from other people.

 

Dalston Eastern Curve Garden  

Dalston Eastern Curve Garden is officially closed, but will be open limited hours for veg collection only. Thursdays: 4.15pm - 6pm. Fridays: 3pm - 5pm. See email from GC about how to contact Brian and collect your bags. Brian and Marie are opening the garden as a huge favour to veg scheme members. If you'd like to thank them, they would love you to donate food or cash for them to pass on to Hackney Foodbank.

Please help us all keep safe by maintaining clean hands, and keeping a 2 metre distance from other people.

 

e5 bakehouse - Closed for veg scheme collection
Mentmore Terrace, E8 3PH  

UPDATE 29 April: The bakery is now baking again and offering a takeaway service with reduced hours. But we are NOT YET reopening it as a collection point. We'll let you know as soon as that changes. 

Unless you have made other arrangements with us, please continue to collect from The Old Fire Station, 61 Leswin Road, N16 7NX. Collection times: Wednesdays 3.30pm-9pm (staffed 3.30pm-7.30pm), Thursdays 8am-9pm, Fridays 8am-9pm, Saturdays 9am-4pm.

Please help us all keep safe by maintaining clean hands, and keeping a 2 metre distance from other people.

 

Hackney Downs Studios  
Amhurst Terrace, E8 2BT

Open as usual. Collection times: Wednesdays 8pm-10pm, Thursdays 8am-8pm; Fridays 8am-8pm. Please help us all keep safe by maintaining clean hands, and keeping a 2 metre distance from other people.

 

Hatch  
8 Mackintosh Lane, Homerton, E9 6AB 

Open as usual. Collection times: Wednesdays 7.30pm-10pm, Thursdays 8am-10pm, Fridays 8am-10pm. Please help us all keep safe by maintaining clean hands, and keeping a 2 metre distance from other people.

 

Hackney City Farm  
Hackney Road, E2 8QA 

Update 5 May: Please note padlock codes are changing this week: see email from GC containing new code.

Collect during these reduced hours: Weds 6-8pm, Thurs 4.30pm-7.30pm, Fri 11am-4pm. Get Loose unpackaged shop is also open during these hours. Sorry for any inconvenience caused. 

Please help us all keep safe by maintaining clean hands, and keeping a 2 metre distance from other people. Please only go into the veg collection room two at a time - we will have extra staff to help manage numbers of people collecting at any one time. We will not be selling bread and eggs as we want to minimise queuing times. You will be able to access the veg cupboards on Thursday and Friday; please keep a 2 metre distance from other people.

 

Mother Earth Albion Road  
5 Albion Parade, Albion Road, N16 9LD

Please collect during the following times.

Collection times: Wednesdays 5pm – 6.30pm; Thursdays 11am – 6.30pm; Fridays 11am – 6.30pm.

Please help us all keep safe by maintaining clean hands, and keeping a 2 metre distance from other people.

 

Mother Earth Newington Green  
103 Newington Green Road, N1 4QY

Please collect during the following times.

Collection times: Wednesdays 4pm – 6.30pm, Thursdays 11am – 6.30pm, Fridays 11am – 6.30pm. 

Please help us all keep safe by maintaining clean hands, and keeping a 2 metre distance from other people.

 

Organic & Natural  
191 Lower Clapton Rd, E5 8EG

Open as usual. Collection times: Wednesdays 3pm-8pm, Thursdays 10am-8pm, Fridays 10am-8pm, Saturdays 10am-12pm. Please help us all keep safe by maintaining clean hands, and keeping a 2 metre distance from other people.

 

The Old Fire Station 
61 Leswin Road, N16 7NX 

To speed up veg collection and keep everyone safe, we have shut our urban farm shop, so there are no bread, eggs or extras for sale. Sorry. We'll ask you to collect from the main Fire Station through the red double doors. Please see signs and stewards for details. At Wednesday's staffed bag pick-up, please keep a distance of 2 metres between you and other people. Don't be offended if Bren and the team don't have time to talk. Please help us all keep safe by maintaining clean hands and covering coughs and sneezes. Please leave children at home if possible and don't bring bikes into the yard.

Collection times: Wednesdays 3.30pm-9pm (staffed 3.30pm-7.30pm), Thursdays 8am-9pm, Fridays 8am-9pm, Saturdays 9am-4pm (hours temporarily extended during Coronavirus outbreak). We have taken the padlocks off the cupboard doors in the yard to minimise handling, but please do close the doors when you have taken your bags. We occasionally see foxes in the yard - and we don't want them to nibble your veg!

 

Redmond Centre  - Closed

The Redmond Centre is closed. We will deliver your bags to the nearby Castle Climbing Centre instead. 

Don't prop the doors open when you collect from the Castle. We understand that people want to keep touch to a minimum, but the Castle (and your veg bags!) need to be kept safe. The Castle team are doing us a huge favour keeping the collection point open just for us, when the climbing centre is closed. We don't want to lose their trust. Please also remember to close the doors and gate when you leave, then use sanitiser and wash your hands when you get home. 

If someone is already collecting when you arrive, please wait outside and give them space. Help us all keep safe by keeping a 2 metre distance from other people.

 

Round Chapel Old School Rooms  
Old School Rooms, 2 Powerscroft Road, E5 0PU

Open as usual. Collection times: Wednesdays 1pm-9pm, Thursday 8.30am-9pm, Friday 8.30am-5pm. Please bear with us and hold off collecting until 2pm if you can. Help us all keep safe by maintaining clean hands, and keeping a 2 metre distance from other people.

 

St John of Jerusalem 
Lauriston Road, E9 7DH  

Open as usual. Collection times: Thursdays 11am-7pm, Fridays 10am-7pm, Saturdays: 10am-1pm. Please help us all keep safe by maintaining clean hands, and keeping a 2 metre distance from other people.

 

St Peter de Beauvoir 
Northchurch Terrace, De Beauvoir Town, N1 4DA 

Open as usual. Collection times: Thursdays 1pm-8.30pm; Fridays 8am-8.30pm. Please help us all keep safe by maintaining clean hands, and keeping a 2 metre distance from other people.

 

Want to sign up to our scheme?

We've had an unprecedented number of new subscriptions, so have temporarily closed to new joiners. 

If you'd like to join our waiting list to hear about spaces as soon as they come up, please sign up here.

 

Volunteering at our growing sites

We've temporarily stopped volunteering activity at our Hackney and Dagenham sites due to Covid-19. Our sites are small and we don't want to put any of our growers or volunteers at risk during this time. We'll update this page as soon as that changes. Or you can join our mailing list, through the link at the bottom of the page, for weekly updates on all our activities.

 

GC’s heightened hygiene precautions 

Growing Communities staff are working hard to protect our members, market customers, ourselves and our families from the Covid-19 virus  

We’ve been taking extra precautions in our packing and delivery operations to minimise the risk of transmitting the virus.

Veg packing: All staff have been trained in Coronavirus hygiene. All staff wash hands before the pack starts and wear gloves while packing. Staff know not to touch their faces or phones during the packing. All staff wash hands according to official public health guidelines before and after eating or any breaks. We have minimised staff in the office to avoid unnecessary foot traffic during the pack. We’re quarantining your returned plastic bags to eliminate risk of contamination, and we have removed swap boxes. 

Veg delivery: The delivery van is cleaned between each delivery trip and delivery staff have been trained in how to minimise the potential for virus transmission. 

Market: We have spaced out the stalls to allow for quicker shopping and safe queuing. Stallholders are offering cardless transactions wherever possible and have their own hand sanitisers. We no longer offer samples of produce at the market. Please make use of the hand-washing facilities as you leave the market.

Our farm and growing sites: Our growers are washing hands and tools regularly, cleaning gloves frequently and have been trained in Coronavirus hygiene. 

Please help us! The veg scheme operates via public collection points so we ask you to take all precautions for public spaces including bringing your own hand sanitiser or sanitiser wipes to wipe your hands after collecting your bags. Please remember to wash your hands after unpacking your veg (and fruit) at home as well as washing all fruit and veg before use as usual.